THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DESIGN INSTRUMENTS WHICH WOULD DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN THE CHILD WHO IS A CONFORMIST OR NONCONFORMIST AND THE CHILD WHO IS FREE TO USE EITHER CONFORMING OR NONCONFORMING BEHAVIOR. IN THIS WAY THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE ABILITY WHICH IS RELATED TO CONFORMITY IN BEHAVIOR CAN BE STUDIED. TWO INSTRUMENTS WERE DEVELOPED FOR USE IN THE MEASUREMENT OF CONFORMING AND NONCONFORMING BEHAVIOR TO DETERMINE WHETHER THIS BEHAVIOR WAS FREE OR COMPULSIVE. THE TESTS CONSISTED OF SPECIALLY PREPARED COLOR PREFERENCE TESTS AND FORM BLOCK PUZZLES. PARENTS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN HAD A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON THE CHILDREN'S RESPONSES, WHEREAS PEERS DID NOT. THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOYS' AND GIRLS' RESPONSES. GIRLS TENDED TOWARD MORE STRICT CONFORMITY THAN DID BOYS. CHILDREN'S BACKGROUNDS WOULD HAVE TO BE STUDIED BEFORE HYPOTHESES ABOUT CHARACTERISTICS ESSENTIAL FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION COULD BE FORMED. IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ARE DISCUSSED.